


Taking Flight

by kcstories



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Community: rarepair_shorts, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-24
Updated: 2007-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-10 13:04:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/100086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcstories/pseuds/kcstories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Fleur and Bill's wedding and two people feel quite out of place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Written in the first Rarepair_shorts exchange at LJ, as a gift for Chimbomba.   
> Pairing: Viktor Krum/Ginny Weasley (Mentions of past Harry/Ginny and past Viktor/Hermione)  
> Warnings: AU-ish. Somewhat fluffy.   
> Disclaimer: The Potterverse is JKR's, not mine. Written for fun, not profit.

_"Always the bridesmaid and never the bride." _

The tired old saying keeps running through her head as she sits there watching the happy couple and feeling like a wilting wallflower in comparison. 

Fleur looks positively radiant, and as for Bill…

He must be the happiest man in the whole wide world right now, in spite of the raging war with its many battles yet to be fought and in spite of his scars, both physical and emotional, that are nowhere near healed.

Automatically, Ginny's thoughts drift to Harry and to what might have been. 

Though not for very long; the older, more rational part of her knows that it's better this way. 

Hero worship can only take you so far. 

*

The ceremony itself is quite brief, but the reception that follows drags on endlessly. 

Viktor Krum forces a polite smile. 

He's pleased to see Hermione again, but he can't even begin to follow the conversation she's presently having with a fellow student, some Ravenclaw girl whose name he didn't catch. 

Viktor's English may have improved, but his Math skills have not, and besides, what use could he possibly have for the finer specifics of irrational numbers? 

Feeling lost and out of place, he looks around the room until his gaze comes to rest on the pretty girl with stunning red hair who's sitting in a corner all by herself and who looks just as bored as he is. 

Ginny Weasley. 

Viktor heard Ronald mention earlier that she plays Quidditch, too. The boy was complaining about it and declaring at the top of his voice that the sport is really much too dangerous for girls. 

Viktor wondered then, and he still wonders now, whether Ronald's remarks weren't fuelled more by jealousy than brotherly concern. Word has it that his sister's Quidditch talents greatly surpass his own. 

*

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches him approach. 

Viktor Krum, renowned Bulgarian Quidditch player, Hermione Granger's ex, and by all accounts, a polite young man who hasn't let his wealth and fame go to his head. 

"Hello," he says. 

"Hi," Ginny replies, smiling slightly and wondering what he could possibly want with her. 

"Is something the matter?" he asks. 

She frowns for a moment because his accent is rather unusual and quite tricky to understand. 

"No," she then says. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?" 

"You looked… bored," he explains. 

"Well," she admits. "I am. Normally, I'd go flying with this weather. It's the first sunny day in weeks." She smiles, broadly this time, and adds as an afterthought, "Don't tell my mum, though. She's worked hard organising all this and she'd be ever so hurt if she knew." 

Now smiling too, he shakes his head. "We could, you know," he suggests. "Go flying." 

She chuckles. "Not in this dress, I can't." 

He frowns. "You live here. You can change your clothes, no?" 

Feeling more than a little foolish, Ginny blushes. "Bugger," she replies with an impish grin. "You're right. Um, I'll be back in five. Meet me up front, all right?" 

"Okay," he says, but she's already halfway up the stairs. 

  
*

Up in the air, Viktor considers that it might be chivalrous to let her win, even though this race was entirely her own idea, but he soon realises that such a noble gesture won't be necessary.

She puts up a fierce competition and some of her sweeping, graceful moves genuinely astound him. 

She'll make some lucky team a brilliant Seeker some day if that's a career she wants to pursue. 

Perhaps he should suggest something along those lines. 

Then again, she does seem to be quite independent and he wouldn't want to appear presumptuous. 

Suddenly she shoots forward and he almost struggles to catch up. 

Yes, he decides, the Harpies would probably kill for her kind of talent. 

*

The sun sets in a hue of colours and it occurs to Ginny that she and Viktor didn't speak much, but truthfully, she didn't feel like talking either. 

There's so much talk these days. It's almost as though people believe that talking about the bad things, mulling them over and analysing them until there's nothing left but tiny microscopic shards, will somehow make them disappear. 

Ginny, however, believes that it's in fact the opposite. Focusing on the bad stuff only strengthens its presence and you end up building walls rather than bridges. 

So she avoids all such conversations and often gets accused of bitterness and cynicism. 

She prefers to call it realism, herself. 

After all, isn't that what happens when you grow up? You see things from a wider perspective and you no longer believe in fairy tales or self-sacrificing heroes. 

*

When they finally rejoin the partygoers, no one pays them much attention. 

Although the newly weds left hours ago, the festivities show no signs of slowing down. 

"I should return to the hotel," Viktor says, his voice loud above the blaring music, and he hesitates a beat before asking, "You and Harry Potter...?" 

"We broke up a while back," Ginny replies, not the least bit surprised that those words don't hurt anymore. In fact, it's rather liberating to say them aloud. 

"I just wanted to be sure," Viktor tells her and goes on, his accent thick and his tone uncertain, "So..." 

"So..." 

Suddenly nervous, Ginny fidgets with her hands. Out of the blue, it occurs to her that he has a really sweet smile and that it's funny how he seems so shy and self-conscious for someone so….

Well, never judge a book by its cover, of course. That, too, is something you learn somewhere along the road to adulthood, isn't it? 

"Would you like to... maybe have lunch together tomorrow?" he asks. 

"Yes," she replies without hesitation. "That would be nice."

He smiles at her and she suddenly feels less of a realist again.


End file.
